Charlie is the laid-back captain of the basketball team. Nate is the neurotic, scheming president of the robotics club. Their unlikely friendship nearly bites the dust when Nate declares war on the cheerleaders and they retaliate by making Charlie their figurehead in the ugliest class election campaign the school has ever seen.

The unlikely friendship between basketball team captain Charlie and robotics club president Nate is challenged when Nate declares war on the cheerleaders over funding that will either pay for new uniforms or a robotics competition. - (Baker & Taylor)

The unlikely friendship between basketball team captain Charlie and robotics club president Nate is challenged when Nate declares war on the cheerleaders over funding that will either pay for new uniforms or a robotics competition. Illustrated by the graphic artist of Zombies Calling. Original. - (Baker & Taylor)

You wouldn't expect Nate and Charlie to be friends. Charlie's the laid-back captain of the basketball team, and Nate is the neurotic, scheming president of the robotics club. But they are friends, however unlikely—until Nate declares war on the cheerleaders. At stake is funding that will either cover a robotics competition or new cheerleading uniforms—but not both. It's only going to get worse: after both parties are stripped of their funding on grounds of abominable misbehavior, Nate enrolls the club's robot in a battlebot competition in a desperate bid for prize money. Bad sportsmanship? Sure. Chainsaws? Why not. Running away from home on Thanksgiving to illicitly enter a televised robot death match? Of course! In Faith Erin Hicks' and Prudence Shen's world of high school class warfare and robot death matches, Nothing can possibly go wrong.

- (McMillan Palgrave)

Author Biography

Prudence Shen is a writer and caffeine addict who pays rent in New York even though she mostly lives in airports. Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong is her first book. She loves robots. Not like that. Faith Erin Hicks is a writer and artist in Halifax, Canada. Her first two graphic novels, Zombies Calling and The War at Ellsmere, were published by SLG Publishing. She has illustrated First Second's Brain Camp and wrote and illustrated 2012's Friends With Boys, a coming of age story with supernatural elements and a musical about zombies. Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong is her most recent graphic novel.

- (McMillan Palgrave)

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Trade Reviews

Booklist Reviews

*Starred Review* This story has everything: basketball, dastardly cheerleaders, a robot rumble, conniving geeks, a house party, family drama, student-council elections, and a tiny sliver of romance. Charlie, captain of the basketball team, and Nate, president of the Robotics Club, are neighbors and unlikely friends. When Charlie's ex-girlfriend, the captain of the cheerleading squad, pits Charlie against Nate for president of the student-council in an aggressive bid to snatch Robotics Club funds for new cheerleading uniforms, dirty campaign tricks ensue, and friendships are tested. But, in a remarkable display of cooperation, everyone bands together to build a rumble-winning robot for prize money that will solve everyone's problems. Hicks' (Friends with Boys, 2012) black-and-white artwork perfectly captures heart-melting facial expressions, fast-paced basketball and robot-rumble action scenes, and Looney Tunes–worthy comedic timing. Though the plot points are not all too surprising, it's the compelling, heady teenage emotional drama that makes this so touching. Charlie's anger over his parents' divorce and Nate's awkward attempts to console him are sentimental without becoming sappy, and the camaraderie that arises from their shared goal is genuine. The story's ample heart helps it transcend mere jocks-versus-geeks melodrama to become silly, earnest, and delightfully stirring all at once. Copyright 2012 Booklist Reviews.

School Library Journal Reviews

Gr 6–9—The next student-body president will decide if the school will fund cheerleader uniforms or a robotics competition, and the cheerleaders are forcing the basketball captain to run against his friend Nate, the robotics club president. The line between jocks and nerds begins to waver, however, when the two warring factions enter a robot rumble for the prize money. The robot death matches are suspenseful and, like much of this novel, effectively illustrated with cinematic paneling and few words. Hicks's angular illustrations nod to manga and are wonderfully expressive: the haughty cheerleaders are truly chilling. Tweens, teens, and all robot fans should enjoy this good-humored play on the ongoing battle between jocks and geeks.—Lisa Goldstein, Brooklyn Public Library, NY